Sylvia Rose
10 Ancient Spices of Trade, Health & Beauty
Spices come from distant lands along ancient trade routes. These commodities bring flavor to food, health and beauty to consumers and...
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Sylvia Rose
Sep 63 min read
Ancient Traders & Buyers: Art of Testing Metals
Testing metals is a precise and varied process in the ancient world. It's a crucial skill in ensuring fair trade and preventing fraud....
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Sylvia Rose
May 244 min read
Neolithic Salt & Brine Works Europe
Neolithic salt production in Europe centers around sites such as Solnitsata in today's Bulgaria, and Lunca (Poiana Slatinei), Romania....
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Sylvia Rose
May 227 min read
Dnieper (Dnipro) River: Early Humans
Dnieper (Dnipro) River is one of most important waterways of ancient European trade and travel. Since the early Stone Age, from the sedge...
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Sylvia Rose
May 185 min read
Solnitsata - Neolithic Salt Trade Town
Solnitsata is the oldest known town in Europe, dating to the Chalcolithic Age in the 5th millennium BCE. A major center of the Neolithic...
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Sylvia Rose
May 174 min read
Baltic Aetsi & the Roman Amber Texts
The Aetsi are a north Germanic-Baltic group described by Roman Tacitus in 98 CE. With strong connections to the trade of coveted amber,...
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Sylvia Rose
May 167 min read
Aetsi: Boars, Snakes & Baltic Amber
The Aesti (Aestii, Astui, Aests) appear at a time when European cultures mingle, and trade routes connect north to south. Neither Germans...
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Sylvia Rose
May 123 min read
Ugarit Royal Palace: Romancing the Ruins
Ugarit is an ancient coastal city-state of northern Syria. In the amiable climate of the East Mediterranean, Bronze Age Ugarit grows a...
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Sylvia Rose
May 86 min read
Enkomi: Bronze Age Trade of Cyprus
Enkomi is among the most important settlements of middle Bronze Age Cyprus. Originally it's situated on the east coast as a prime...
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Sylvia Rose
May 84 min read
Ox Hide Ingots - Bronze Age Trade
Oxhide (ox hide, ox-hide) ingots are popular trade goods during the Bonze Age. An ingot is a piece of metal or other material such as...
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Sylvia Rose
Feb 15 min read
Bitumen - Tarry Trade in Perfect Pitch
Bitumen, a natural petroleum product, is a common trade route item in the ancient world. The earliest known use of bitumen dates back to...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 242 min read
Ebony - Precious Wood of Ancients
Ebony is a coveted item of trade for thousands of years, in the ancient world still in demand today. A solid black hardwood, ebony is...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 146 min read
Uluburun - Bronze Age Shipwreck
The Uluburun shipwreck is among the amazing discoveries from the Bronze Age. Near Uluburun (Grand Cape) in Mediterranean Anatolia...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 104 min read
Salt Trade - the Most Precious Mineral
Salt is an essential mineral of life. In food it stimulates taste and is among the oldest preservation methods. Part of the human taste...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 45 min read
Rise of the Phoenicians - Early Years
The Phoenicians rise from semi-nomadic hunter gatherers who settle the coasts of today's Lebanon to become the foremost merchant and...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 34 min read
Bronze Age Trade of Mesopotamia
In the ancient world, trade unites countries, spreads knowledge and formalizes safe travel routes. In Mesopotamia a local trade network...
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Sylvia Rose
Dec 19, 20235 min read
Cinnamon - Spice Trade of Ancients
Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum ) is the oldest known spice in the world. The fragrant bark comes into popular use by c. 2000 BCE, when Egyptians...
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Sylvia Rose
Nov 22, 20234 min read
Steppe Trade Routes: Before the Silk Road
The Steppe trade route network is in place about two thousand years before the official establishment of the Silk Roads in the 2nd...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 23, 20235 min read
Baltic Amber - Gold of the North
Baltic amber is among the most prized trade items for millennia. The European amber trade starts in Sicily, with exports to other...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 23, 20234 min read
Bronze Age Europe - the Amber Roads
The mystic stone amber is treasured for beauty, depth and warmth. A fossilized resin, amber can be worn in jewelry, traded for goods or...
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